Wearing apparel



July 14, 1925. 1,545,491

B. GERLA WEARING APPAREL Fiied Dec. 9, 1924 Patented July 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES} BERNARD GERLA, on NE YORK, n. Y;

WEARING APPAREL.

Application filed December 9,1924, Serial K057545510. 1

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD GERLA, a

citizen of the United States, residing at 1000 lVhitlock, Ave, in the county of Bronx and city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vearing Apparel, of which the following,

" taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to wearing apparel, such as dresses or blouses, and to collars to.

be used in combination therewith.

Ordinarily, dresses or blouses have collars,

such collars being integral with the garment, and as a resultachange in theappearance of the dress or blouse is impossible except by a substantial alteration of the dress.

According to my invention, the general appearance of the dress or blouse maybe changed by the application theretoof an additional collar which so cooperates in appearance with the collar which forms a part of the dress or blouse, as to; make the same substantially different in appearance when the additional collar is applied thereto.

Referring to the drawings forming a part of this specification: n I n v Fig. 1 isa front elevation of the upper part of a dress or blouse to which the additional collar may or may not be applied, as desired; 1

Fig. 2 is alike view showing the additional collar applied thereto;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. t is a cross-section on the line L-L of Fig. 2.

The dress or blouse 1 comprises the customary body part 2 which may be of suitable length, that is, it may extend to or somewhat beyond the waist line only to form a waist type garment, or it may extend all the way down to include a skirt. Sleeves 3 may or may not be used, as desired; and these form no substantial part of the invention.

My garment has the usual head opening L and this is preferably, but not necessarily, V-shaped to conform with the present mode. A collar 5 is suitably attached to the neck part of the garment and it is preferably made integral with the garment in the usual manner, that is, by sewing the collar thereto, or by cutting the body of the garment and the collar 5 from the same piece of goods, as one piece; or otherwise. I generally prefciftliatthe collar 5 be of the same n iateiial as the body part o'f'the garment.

My invention, however, includes making such collar of different material than that of which the body parto-f the garment is made, and also detachably combining the collar 5 with thegarment, as well as other changes within the scope of the appended claims. V i I Suitable ornamentation, such astabs 6, or

a ribbon bow 7, orother suitabledevice,or

morethan one ornamental device, appear or appears at theupper central front part of the dress, the same having a more or less necktie-like appearance, particularly when viewed in combination with either of the collars of the dress, and especially so with the added removable collar which will be later described. i Such necktie-like ornamentation may or may not be integral with and form aunitary part of thecollar 5; and for the purpose of illustration I have shown the tab-like members '6 as aunitary partof the collar, 5, and thebow-like member stitched tothe body part 2. v

This added removable collar 8 comprises the usual part 9' which appears outside of the garment and is visible when applied thereto andwo rn,and the fold-over part 10 whichfolds in under'the neck part of the dress to hold this collar in place, and is made of any suitable material, and is preferably white, and washable.

One of the main features of my invention is the cutting of the material for the col-.

lar 8, and for the head opening 4, and the manufacture thereof, so that the normal shape of the collar 8 which it normally, tends to assume will correspond with that of the collar 5 and the head opening 4 when the added collar is applied to the garment, and as a result there will be a minimum tendency to move from its desired position.

Means may be provided for the retention of the extra collar on the dress, although this is not absolutely necessary, due to the fact that the extra collar when worn is in the position which it normally tends to assume; but due to movements of the wearer, the putting on or taking off of coats or other like apparel, over or from over the collar, it is possible that the extra collar may be disturbed, as is true of any collar that is attached or unattached, and for this reason I prefer attaching means, such as a snap member 12 attached to the inside neck portion of the garment, at the back thereof as shown on Fig. 1, and a corresponding snap member 13 on the portion 10 of the removable collar, the two snap members being of the usual type and cooperating to hold the upper back part of the removable collar in place. I prefer also to provide tab portions 14 at the two front ends of the collar, the same being elongatio-ns of the fold-in part 10, and these fit in under the front part of the dress to aid in holding the added collar in place.

The garment may or may not have thereon the collar 5 as the appearance of the dress may be pleasing either with or without such collar, but I prefer to have such collar, and the ornamental necktie-like device or devices described, or others having a like function, are to be used.

The garment having a pleasing appear ance'without the collar 8 has a substantially different pleasing appearance whenthe collar 8 is applied thereto, due to the cooperation of the ornamental or necktie-like device or devices therewith. The form of garment which I prefer includes the collar 5 integral with the dress or blouse permanently fastened thereto, and tabs 6, as shown, formin a part of such collar 5 and being integral therewith, that is to say, the parts 5 and 6 are preferably one piece of goods. I prefer to have the added collar 10 appear to the eye of an observer to be the only collar; that is, the part 9 of'the added collar covers the whole of any collar'present on the dress, except for the ornamental, necktie-like parts.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A garment having two collars, one of said collars being attached to said garment and having a'forward extension constitut ing a necktie-like device, and the other of said collars being detachably attachable to said garment, and when attached thereto covering the first mentioned collar but exposing the necktie-like device to view.

2. In combination, a garment having a neck opening and a'collar permanently attached to said garment at said opening and a necktie-like device adjacent the opening at the upper front central portion of the garment, and a removable collar therefor, cooperating snap fastening members, one of said snap fastening members being attached to the inner side of the garment at the back of the neck opening and the other of said fastening members being attached in acorresponding position on said removable collar, thenormal lines of said removable collar'being the same as those of the neck opening of the dress and of the same dimensions, the collar band on said remov-- able collar being extended beyond the length of the collar to form tabs which cross each other underneath the garment at the front of the neck portion thereof, a necktie-like device independent of said removable collar and being constituted at least in part by said garment collar, said removable collar coverin said garment collar but,leaving the nec lrtie-like device exposed to view when said removable collar is in normal combination with said garment.

' BERNARD GERLA: 

